Snow Patrol

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Biography

Snow Patrol (formed 1994)Snow Patrol is a Northern Irish band, though they are based in Glasgow, having formed the band in Dundee. The mainstream rock / pop band are signed to Polydor Records.

Formation: In 1994, Gary Lightbody formed a band called Shrug, with Mark McLelland whilst studying at the University of Dundee in Scotland. In 1995, the band changed its name to Polar Bear and then later changed it again to Snow Patrol.

In 1997, the band released the Starfighter Pilot EP on the Electric Honey label. Richard Colburn and Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian both appeared on the record.

The next EP, Little Hide was released on Jeepster Records and its follow-up single, 'One Hundred Things You Should Have Done in Bed' was a minor hit in the indie charts for the band. Jeepster also released their first two albums, Songs For Polarbears (1998) and When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up (2001).

The Breakthrough: Snow Patrol were eventually dropped by Jeepster but later signed to Polydor Records. Their single 'Run' went to number five in the UK singles chart. Their first album for Polydor, Final Straw (2003) peaked at number three.

The follow-up singles to 'Run', 'Chocolate', 'Spitting Games' and 'How To Be Dead' were all Top 40 hits.

The album's release in the United States saw sales over 250,000 units and in 2005 they supported U2 on the Vertigo Tour in Europe. They were also included on the bill at London's leg of the Live 8 concert. The band's cover of John Lennon's 'Isolation' was included on tribute album Instant Karma: the Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

Snow Patrol's second album, Eyes Open was released in May 2006. The song 'Chasing Cars' was featured on the hit TV show Gray's Anatomy, greatly helping the band's commercial success. 'Open Your Eyes' was also featured in an episode of ER and 'Tell Me You Love Me' was featured on the popular UK comedy show Gavin and Stacey. 'Signal Fire' was the lead song for the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack.

In 2006, Snow Patrol was the last band ever to feature on the long-running BBC show Top of the Pops.

Eyes Open was crowned the best selling album of 2006, despite fierce competition from Take That and Arctic Monkeys, with sales of 1.6 million.

Following the recent release of their seventh studio album 'Wildness', Snow Patrol have announced that they are set to hit the road this Winter with a series of UK and Ireland arena dates. They are already touring all over the world doing various festivals and stadium shows, but fans can't wait for their homecoming.

Snow Patrol at the BMI London Awards

They'll kick off at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena on December 5th 2018 before performing in Belfast and Dublin, after which they'll be taking a long break over the Christmas and New Year period, returning on January 25th 2019 at the Birmingham Arena and concluding on January 31st at Glasgow's SSE Hydro. They'll also hit London, Leeds and Manchester.

Snow Patrol hit the BMI London Awards earlier this month, where they picked up a BMI Million-Air Award in honour of the amount of radio plays from 2006 smash hit 'Chasing Cars'. The band has been together more than two decades, but it seems the relationship between the five members has never been truly tested.

Snow Patrol have no 'pet hates' about each other

The BMI London Awards took place at London's Dorchester Hotel on October 9th 2016, and saw Sting honoured with the coveted BMI Icon Award. Snow Patrol were also honoured alongside other BMI Million-Air Award winners including Sir Paul McCartney, Ray Davies, Howard Jones and Elton John. Snow Patrol were quizzed on the red carpet about how they deal with each others bad habits and 'pet hates'.

Sheeran played 'Chasing Cars' and 'Superstition' with McDaid and other Snow Patrol members at McDaid's sister's wedding in Londonderry.

Ed Sheeran performed a short set of songs with Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid in Northern Ireland at the weekend, at McDaid’s sister Brid’s wedding in Londonderry.

After the bride had tied the knot with her fiancé Sandy Stratham at the Beech Hill Country House Hotel, 25 year old Sheeran teamed up with the indie guitarist and songwriter McDaid, 40, for a half-hour performance that included a selection of Snow Patrol and Sheeran hits, plus some cover versions.

Ed Sheeran teamed up with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid to play at McDaid's sister's wedding

To celebrate the release of Divergent on digital download, DVD and Blu-ray we are giving you the opportunity to win a copy of the DVD and the amazing soundtrack featuring the work of Ellie Goulding!

The hit action flick Divergent hit cinemas with a bang earlier this year. Adapted from the popular trilogy of novels by Veronica Roth and set within a dystopian, post apocalyptic Chicago with a population divided into distinct factions based on their human virtues, it was only a matter of time until words were transformed into a slick, action packed big screen adaptation.

The young and talented Shailene Woodley was the actress carefully selected to tell the thrilling story of Tris Prior who learns that she is Divergent and therefore will never be able to fit into any of these factions whilst quickly learning that there is a sinister plot brewing in her seemingly perfect society.

When it came to talking about the next Tired Pony album, Lightbody stated that 'there's a while to wait' as there may not be time for one in the near future. 'If Snow Patrol release an album next year [2015], which we probably will, and then tour for it....' he told us, while weighing up the chances of a Tired Pony release in the next few years.

Tired Pony's recent gig at Bushmills Live 2014 was meant to be a focussed, 'stripped down' affair. It wasn't.

Despite having only ever played 'like 5 shows and 4 TV shows' and not having 'had the same line up at any of them', Tired Pony have honed their own take on 'stripped down' sets.

Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol) and Peter Buck (R.E.M) of Tired Pony recently took the time to talk to Contact Music, ahead of their appearance at Bushmills festival (June 12th 2014). Buck explained about their take on playing an acoustic set, saying it's 'more focussed' and by having less layers it makes it more possible to 'feel the emotions of the songs and let the songs breathe'. This doesn't mean that Tired Pony are going down the usual acoustic route; their onstage ensemble is still consisting of 12 people which, by most standards, would be a rather elaborate set-up but Gary was quick to point out that the number and style is still 'stripped down' for them.

Things are going very, very well for the actress and the Snow Patrol musician.

Courteney Cox may have still been legally married to ex-husband David Arquette this time last year, but things are already going so well with new beau Johnny McDaid that Cox may be looking at making the big commitment all over again. Well that's what Ed Sheeran has hinted to The Daily Mirror anyway. The British singer-songwriter has been living rent-free with the Friends actress recently which has perhaps allowed him to gauge Courteney and Johnny's relationship status.

Things Are Going Swimmingly For Courteney Cox & Johnny McDaid.

Sheeran said that the couple were already living together and that things are going rather swimmingly: "I'm not sure that it's public knowledge, so maybe I shouldn't have said anything - but, yes, they're already living together. Things are moving fast. He moved in and, judging by the last time I saw them, they couldn't be happier," he said. "They get on really well and are genuinely good friends, pardon the pun," the pop star added.

It'snow joke: Harry Styles and Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody have had "a lot of fun" teaming up to write some songs together.

It's hardly the most obvious collaboration in British music - One Direction's Harry Styles joining forces with 'Chasing Cars' songwriter Gary Lightbody to pen some siogs together. Snow Patrol frontman Lightbody has spoken of his experience of working with the boyband heartthrob with the famous bouffant: "We wrote with Harry. It was a lot of fun. He's a real dude actually. We've no idea if those songs will make it yet, though. It's a long process. It's great to work with other people - it's good to flex the muscle."

Will Harry Styles & Snow Patrol Release Music Together?

After Harry's previous duet with indie band Burning Beaches' singer Sam McCarthy, flustered fans took to Twitter, fearing Styles was about to jump ship to pursue his own separate musical interests.